The Many Faces of Defeat: The German People's Experience in 1945 (American University Studies) - Hardcover

Peterson, Edward N.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0820413518 ISBN 13: 9780820413518

Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers, 1990

Synopsis

This book examines the great variety of experiences of the German people at the end of World War II, beginning with the frightening bombings, the passage of armies, the imprisonment of soldiers and civilians, the troop occupation of each of five separate zones, plus Berlin and Königsberg, and their impact on the defeated. This experience ranged from a liberation from the SS, to an enormous relief that the war's killing was over, to the rapings of women, particularly in the east, to a massive looting and destruction, again worst in the east, and the expulsion of millions from their ancestral homes. The beginnings of recovery and self-government in the four zones, moving particularly quickly in the American zone. The fundamental result everywhere: Hunger.

About this title

Review:

«The first comprehensive account in English, of how German civilians and soldiers fared at the hands of US, British, French, Soviet, and Polish military forces at the end of WW II. Based on German and foreign memoirs and relevant archival sources, his new book paints a graphic picture and offers a sensible interpretation of the horrendous price that countless Germans paid for Hitler's war and terror. College, university, and public libraries.» (G.P. Blum, University of the Pacific)

About this edition

• Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0820413518
• ISBN 13: 9780820413518
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 375